Moonbirds Set to Bring in $66M as NFT Drop Mints Out

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The Moonbirds team has promised the NFTs will offer utility within the PROOF ecosystem. 

Moonbirds Set to Mint Out 

The NFT space is in a frenzy over this weekend’s big drop. 

Moonbirds have gone live this afternoon, with the majority of the 10,000 strong NFT collection minting out within the first few hours. Of the 10,000, 2,000 were made available to PROOF Collective NFT holders via a free mint, 125 were distributed by the Moonbirds team, and the remaining 7,875 were minted for 2.5 ETH each by those who won an allowlist spot through a public raffle. The Moonbirds team raised approximately $66 million from the allowlist mint based on current market prices. 

Moonbirds is a collection of pixel art birds minted on Ethereum. Each bird has different traits that denote its scarcity, and the art makes for a fitting profile picture on social media apps like Twitter. In that respect, Moonbirds is similar to many other so-called “PFP” projects that gained popularity in 2021.

However, Moonbirds promises something more than many other NFT projects, which explains why demand has been so strong despite the high mint price. Although Moonbirds resemble cute bird characters on the surface, they in fact serve as “utility NFTs” for PROOF, one of the recent standout projects in the NFT space. PROOF had a hugely successful launch when it unveiled PROOF Collective, a private members club for just 1,000 NFT collectors and artists. PROOF Collective’s first drop, called Grails, featured ultra-rare works by the likes of Larva Labs and Tyler Hobbs, and the current floor price for one of its entry passes on the secondary market is over 76 ETH, the equivalent of over $230,000. Moonbirds have been labeled as the official avatar for PROOF, and though details are currently scarce, they’re expected to offer holders similar benefits to PROOF Collective passes. That could mean early access to exclusive mints, airdrops, or other rewards. 

As Moonbirds are linked to the highly-successful PROOF Collective, today’s mint was incredibly sought after. It was initially due to launch as a Dutch auction starting at 2.5 ETH, but the team opted for a raffle and allowlist sale due to the overwhelming demand (allowlists are popularly used to prevent bots from attacking in-demand drops). The team said it had received about four entries into the allowlist raffle for every NFT available. Anticipation for the drop was at a high in the leadup to the mint, with widespread speculation over what the floor price would look like on the secondary market. In the minutes after the first Moonbirds hit trading platforms, speculators were buying the NFTs for up to 25 ETH each, around $76,000. However, as more NFTs hit the market, prices fell. The floor price currently sits at 7.65 ETH on OpenSea. 

The Moonbirds team tweeted out that it was “thrilled to see the community coming together” after the mint but has not yet released further information on the project’s roadmap. Still, with $66 million banked, the team shouldn’t have any difficulty finding cash for its upcoming plans. 

Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned ETH and several other cryptocurrencies. 

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